


Chance Would Be a Fine Thing

by Jougetsu



Category: Shoujo Kakumei Utena | Revolutionary Girl Utena
Genre: Awkward Flirting, F/F, Post-Canon, Post-Series, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-07
Updated: 2017-10-07
Packaged: 2019-01-10 05:49:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12292602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jougetsu/pseuds/Jougetsu
Summary: Ten years after leaving Ohtori, Utena Tenjou meets a not-quite stranger in Tokyo.





	Chance Would Be a Fine Thing

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bygoshbygolly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bygoshbygolly/gifts).



Being back in Japan was always a bit weird. Somehow it always managed to feel like it was half time-travel and half watching a movie. She couldn’t read a lot of the more complex kanji even though she was now fluent in English and Dutch. She didn’t know where to stand on the escalators and was always fighting to make the ticket vending machines work now that they were all different. Still there was something almost nostalgic about having tea in a Tokyo cafe with her teammates. They’d come to Tokyo enough for tournaments that Utena knew it better than her old hometown, or at least she knew the busy touristy areas near the sports venues. 

She smelled a wispy cloud of rose perfume and moments later the wind picked up and merrily seized a silk scarf from its rose-scented owner. Utena caught it before it could make any more gains in its escape. “Hold on, I gotta return this scarf to that lady that just went past,” Utena told Coach Anna before dashing off. 

The lady in question had long thick waves of hair so dark it was somewhere between black and purple, that much Utena recalled, but she almost seemed to vanish into thin air. The roads in this part of Ginza were closed to non-pedestrian traffic on holidays which made the crowd harder to wade through. When she looked around frantically she couldn’t see the mystery woman at all yet when she closed her eyes she caught a fresh whiff of the unusual roses. 

Following her nose Utena was nearly at the end of Omotesando’s tree-lined boulevard when she stumbled into the woman, who she could have sworn wasn’t there a moment ago. 

“Geez, I’m awfully sorry! I was trying to catch up with you because you dropped this. This is your scarf, right? Because I’m pretty sure it is and if it’s not I’m doubly sorry to have crashed into you!” Utena babbled as the woman turned around. Then she stopped babbling because she’d gone speechless. 

The woman was impossibly striking. Beautiful, elegant, and with a charm that made Utena want to do something old-fashioned like kiss her hand or kneel like a knight. She was foreign, Indian from what Utena could guess, and for a moment Utena was afraid she might not know Japanese so she switched to English just in case. 

“Sorry to bump into you! Is this your scarf, miss?” 

“Yes, yes it’s my scarf,” the woman frowned as she stared at Utena. She took the scarf back, but as her fingers brushed against Utena’s hand Utena swore she felt electricity tingle between them. “You, I mean, are you Tenjou? Utena Tenjou?” 

“Oh! Are you a fan?” Women’s field hockey didn’t command the immediate recognizability like pro-soccer players, but their fans were dedicated. “If you have a pen I’ll sign anything you like. I left my bag back with my team, but I can get you tickets to the game this weekend if you want-”

“No, I,” the woman shook her head and took a step forward. “I’m Anthy Himemiya. We went to middle school together. I was the year below you.” 

“Ohhh.” Ouch. Utena felt like a fool. This was bound to happen to her eventually. It was just too bad it had to be with the most exquisitely intriguing woman she’d ever met. “I’m really really sorry. I, um, I don’t remember you. Which is the absolute worst because you’re obviously like the most memorable person ever. I mean who could ever forget you and I’m rambling-” 

Anthy laughed, but there was a bitter hollowness about it that made Utena’s heart clench. “I’m not offended, Miss Tenjou. It’s been over a decade. How could I possibly expect you to remember?” 

“Nonono!” Utena took Anthy’s hand with the scarf once more, searching her face for any sign of displeasure. “I don’t know how much anyone told you or what you know, but I was in an accident my last year of middle school and then I moved abroad. I lost a good two years of memories. So it’s not you, I don’t remember anyone from that time. Because trust me I would remember you.” 

“It’s probably better you don’t remember,” Anthy sighed and Utena was suddenly determined to never let her make such an unhappy sound again. “Adolescence can be a troubling time.” 

“Maybe you can fill me in?” Utena tried her best smile, the one Lotte said made her look like a puppy. “Like over drinks or coffee or whatever? I’m in town another week with my team, I uh, I play field hockey for the Netherlands. Which I figure I should tell you since you said you weren’t a fan, but I’m not saying it to brag or anything.” 

Now Anthy’s laugh was tinged with fondness. “Are you quite sure, Miss Tenjou? I’m not much of a storyteller.” 

“I’ve never been surer,” Utena did at last kiss the back of Anthy’s hand quickly and discreetly. “That wasn’t over the line, was it? Because I was kind of getting the vibe that you’re maybe a little bit into me and I’m really liking you, but the drinks or coffee doesn’t have to be a date and-” 

“It’s a date,” Anthy blushed, prettily of course because naturally she wouldn’t go splotchy red the way Utena does. “Very much a date.” 

There’s a pang inside Utena, deep in the void of her lack of memory, and she has to wonder if they were schoolgirl sweethearts or something. She couldn’t shake the notion that there was more to their shared past than attending the same school. The way Anthy had said ‘it’s been over a decade’ rang with a loneliness you wouldn’t expect of a old schoolmate. It was as if Utena had left her waiting. Maybe she had. 

They exchange mobile numbers and a promise to meet back here in two days. 

“I won’t keep you waiting,” Utena grinned. “And I won’t disappear. Not again.” 

“I’ll hold you to that, Miss Tenjou,” Anthy smiled. It wasn’t an easy smile, but a slow blooming expression that transformed her entire face. Utena didn’t think she could be more enchanted with her long-lost classmate and was thrilled to find that that wasn’t the case. 

“Call me Utena.” 

“I'll see you Tuesday evening then, Utena.”

The sound of her name on Anthy’s lips sounded so much like a homecoming Utena had to remind herself that it would be weird to propose to someone on a first date.

Tuesday couldn't come fast enough.

**Author's Note:**

> In the manga version of the story, Utena was living with her aunt Yuriko before attending Ohtori academy. Yuriko moves to the Netherlands for her job when Utena decides to transfer to Ohtori to find her prince. The anime doesn't contradict this part of her backstory so I thought it would be interesting if Utena rejoined her aunt after leaving Ohtori. 
> 
> The anime hints, but the light novels and manga make it explicit that Utena was a sports prodigy that could have turned pro if she ever stuck with any of the sports she dabbled in. I really liked the idea of Utena as a pro athlete especially for a sport that is underappreciated by mainstream audiences.


End file.
